My Favorite Story
by Prisionero de Amor
Summary: A Oneshot dedicated to the relationship between Gilbert and Arthur. Most of it takes place in Arthur's childhood. Hints of romance and lots of childishness. Warning: Character death. T because of swearing in German.


The procession of people seemed endless as crystalline green eyes watched them walk behind the hearse as it slowly came to a stop. The sun was too bright for such a solemn day. His brother and close friends unloaded the stark white casket adorned with a wreath of red roses. They placed his casket on display for the last time before they would finally lay him to rest. One by one, the guests placed flowers of all kinds on the casket; chrysanthemums, tulips, sunflowers, edelweiss, all joined the rose garland. As the crowd thinned out to those who had been closest to the deceased, Arthur played an ironic smirk. He went down to join the rest of the mourners.

Ludwig was the first to stand behind the podium. He told the audience about his delinquent brother with a tone of loss. At the same time, Ludwig made his brother come across as a saint who raised his younger brother to be his opposite. Francis and Antonio were next, recalling their drinking binges with the albino. Even Roderich and Elizabeta had their turns to say a few word in remembrance. During every speech, there were laughs and there were tears. And finally, it was Arthur's turn. He rose from his seat in the back. The walk to the podium seemed to go in slow motion. As he turned to face the familiar faces, he closed his eyes and let his recollections of Gilbert Beilschmidt fill his mind.

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><p>Arthur was only a tender age of five when Social Services decided it was better for him to live with his eldest brother, Scott, and the rest of his brothers rather than their deadbeat father. He didn't understand at first, but he was thankful to get to see his brothers again. After his mother's sudden death, his father wasn't the man he used to be. Drinking away his problems, Lenard Kirkland agreed to counseling after Arthur was taken.<p>

Arthur's new home was in the suburbs; family friendly, middle class, typical place to raise a family. Scott's house was brick red and cream. An assortment of rosebushes were planted in the flower boxes and the grass seemed well managed. Arthur was greeted by his brothers, Scott, Edmund, Colon, and Philip.

"Hey, lad. Tis about time you git yor arse wit' us!" Scott's heavy accent made Arthur giggle as he was swept up in the fiery redhead's arms.

"Now that yar with os ya won't hafta be all loney, eh lil' Arthur." Colon ruffled the blonde's hair. As far as Arthur knew, only he and Edmund looked like their mother. The other three resembled their father a lot more. Something Arthur was never sure if they hated or were proud of.

As the days went by in his new home, he went to school and was slowly getting acquainted with the rest of the children in the neighborhood. Soon finding his own little group of friends to be with. He was particularly close to his Japanese classmate, Kiku, who he liked to play and color with. That day, he and Kiku had gone to the park a little ways away from Arthur's house. There were a lot of adults Scott knew, so he didn't mind them going on their own.

"Arthur-san, what do you think of my coloring? Do you think nii-san will like it?" Kiku held up a picture of a tiger that he had ripped out of a coloring book and colored the appropriate shade of orange. Arthur was thoroughly impressed because Kiku had colored only in the lines while he had strayed some when he had colored his dragon.

"I think Mr. Yao will like it," he said quietly.

"Well well, what do we have here? Deux petits poussins." Francis, an older child of the neighborhood, chuckled.

"Hehe, hola, pollitos. Que pasa?" Antonio was a Spanish boy. Not as bad as Francis, but Arthur could never really trust him.

"Kesese, so what? Do you want to play with them, Francis?" Gilbert, the final and most egotistical member of the trio, said with a smirk.

Arthur never liked it when the trio bothered him, what's more is that he was with Kiku and Scott wasn't with them.

"Ano, what do you mean?" Kiku said in a mousy voice.

"Hohoho, nothing, my love. We just want to play. What is it are you doing?"

"None of your business, frog!" Arthur puffed. "Go away!"

"Aw, look. Die kleine gore denkt, er ist ein ritter."

"Like a brave knight protecting the princess, si?"

The trio chuckled at their jokes, making Kiku start tearing up. The Japanese boy was always sensitive and Arthur wasn't going to stand for teasing. He got up and went up to Gilbert who chuckled the loudest.

"Eh, what do you want? Did I hurt your feelings?"

Arthur didn't like him, nope, definitely not. He took a deep breath and kicked the stupid Prussian as hard as he could in the shin. It wasn't long until Gilbert was hopping up and down on one leg.

"Ah, verdammt brat!" Gil screeched.

Arthur dashed away with Kiku and their pictures in hand, running as fast as they could to Arthur's house. Arthur slammed the front door and collapsed on his bottom next to Kiku.

"Y..you..kicked one…" Kiku panted.

"He…deserved…it." Arthur reasoned.

Arthur's next encounter with the trio was in his kindergarten class. The older children were going to read to them a book they had chosen. Arthur had his favorite story, Peter Pan, in his knapsack and was very excited. That is until he saw who was actually going to read to him. Francis's class was assigned to his and Gilbert had the gall to volunteer to read to him. Arthur swore that if the Prussian tried anything funny, he would bite him.

"Hey there, augenbrauen! The Awesome me is reading to you!"

Arthur stared at him with a guarded expression and held his beloved book close to him. "I don't want you."

"What! Why not! The Awesome me has to read to you since West isn't here!" Gilbert made a grab for the book in Arthur's arms. "Let me see what you chose."

"No!" Arthur yelled, holding the book tighter and turned his back to the Prussian. "Don't touch it!"

"What's wrong with you! Let me read to you, verdammt!" Gilbert forcefully yanked the book from Arthur.

"No, don't touch it!" Arthur wailed, his eyes becoming shiny with little tears.

"I'm not going to do anything bad to it! So sit down and let me read to you!" Gilbert was surprised the teachers weren't coming to see all the commotion, but he guessed they were occupied with Francis and Antonio as is.

Arthur whimpered and balled his little fists, trying to be a strong man his mama would want him to be. He sat obediently on the floor before Gilbert, rubbing out any little tears that would threaten to come out. Gilbert sighed. He was too awesome to make a kid cry.

"Hold this for a second," he said. Arthur took the book from Gilbert who then proceeded to pick him up.

"W-what are you doing!"

The Prussian sat the small boy in his lap. "The floor is cold. You want to hold the book, right? I won't be able to read to you if I can't see, so this is the best way."

Arthur looked at Gilbert who smiled at him. A smile that was a lot like the smile Scott would give him. He nodded and opened the book to the first page. An antique illustration of a girl in a blue gown and a boy in a green outfit decorated the page which felt as delicate as a butterfly wing.

"Hey, I know this one. The boy who never wanted to grow up. It's an old book, why do you like it?" Hesitantly, Gilbert ran his finger over the picture.

"It's my favorite. My mum gave it to me." Arthur turned the page again. "Start here," he said, pointing his little index finger to the top of 'chapter one'.

"Alright, let the Awesome me show you how awesome my skills are."

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><p>Arthur took a deep breath and opened his eyes. There he was again. At his front were the people who he shared Gilbert with. And at his back was the man he shared everything with. He turned and faced the casket all decorated with flowers. The sun was really too bright at this moment. As silent tears escaped Arthur's eyes, he placed a book on top of the flowers. An old, faded, torn copy of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie.<p>

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><p>Prisonero: So, if you want to know what the Trio are saying, google it. Seriously, I used Google!Translater for the French and German. Anyways, I hope you liked it. Please review if you have something to say, but flames will be put out by General Winter. Much love to all and to all a good fanfic.<p> 


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